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Saturday, August 31, 2013

When last we left Leah Remini, she had defected from the Church of Fake Religion Scientology and was planning to write a book about the cult faith. Now comes word that members of the CoS are being, um, ordered advised to keep their distance from Remini, and that includes one JohnThe Groper Travolta.

See, the good folks at CoS think that maybe someone else might escape and are worried that it might be big … I giggle … star Travolta who’s next to tie his toupees together and create a makeshift rope to climb over the walls, and they have ALLEGEDLY put him on a “tight leash.”

Methinks he might like that, but I digress.

Church authorities are working together to ensure that John Travolta doesn’t jump ship and at the 87th birthday celebration for Tony Bennett in LA recently, folks say John and his daughter, Ella Bleu, were being tailed by Scientology ‘minder’ Angie: “She spent most of the night aggressively staring at anyone John talked to,” recalls an eyewitness. “It was very uncomfortable, but John acted like it was normal.”

But Travolta ain’t leaving the building any time soon. I mean, he’s stayed through years of scandal and speculation regarding his proclivities with male masseurs, so this Remini dust-up won’t send him scampering off.

Still, folks say Ella Blue was fond of Remini and has no idea why she’s being told to distance herself from the actress; CoS members are routinely asked to “disconnect” from people who leave the church. Ella remains confused at the cruelty in cutting off Leah, so her parents decided to find a church minder for her.

Wow. What a lovely cult faith.

Hopefully Ella Bleu has bigger balls than either of her robot parents and she’ll defect as soon as she’s old enough.

The Brits apparently don’t want Americans buying their ‘stuff’ even at auction.

It seems Kelly Clarkson recently paid some $228,000 for a ring that once belonged to Jane Austen and people are so incensed about it that Britain basically forbidden her from taking her purchase out of the country; they’re hoping someone else, a Brit, perhaps, will outbid Kelly’s previously accepted bid and the ring will stay in the UK.

Britain’s Culture Minister Ed Vaizey has placed a temporary hold on the item, which will keep it on British soil until September 30; this hold will be extended to December 30 if a new buyer comes forward and intends to match Clarkson’s winning bid.

Here’s a thought Britain: if you wanna keep Jane’s jewels in the UK don’t put them up for sale? Eh?

Jennifer Lopez is finally putting all those American Idol rumors to rest. Well, not JLo who likes to turn everything into a media event for the press; well, everything except for those birthday parties she sings at for European despots and barbarians. Those she keeps secret.

But it JLo telling the tale of the AI return, it’s her oldest son, Casper Lopez, er, Smart. It seems Baby Boy Casper was promoting his new show — yes, ‘tis true … anyone can have a show on TV these days if you’re banging a media whore — when he was asked if his Mama JLo was coming back to Idol.

Casper took a beat, saw his chance, and said, “Yes.”

He won’t like it when he gets home to Mama; she don’t like folks telling her stories before she can spin it to make the most money possible.

So, Chris Brown has had a bad summer, hell, a bad few years. I mean, he was arrested for beating his girlfriend, he threw a chair out a window on GMA, he had a smackdown with Frank Ocean in a parking lot in LA and got a beat-down from Drake’s posse in NYC.

Then he had a seizure which he blamed on people who don’t like him and cried that American’s don’t ‘get’ his music — Oh, we get it, we just don’t want it — and now he’s gone a couple of rounds with a judge in California.

Chrissy was back in court recently to reinstate his probation — following the dropped charges on that weird hit-and-run incident — and the judge asked him if he ever completed his community service.

Brown who never met a lie he didn’t want to tell said, “Yeah.”

But then the judge was all, “Oh, no you d’i’n’t so now I’m’a give you a 1000 more hours.”

Brown was nabbed by submitting bogus community service reports — in one case even swearing he was picking up trash in Virginia when he was actually on a private jet to Cancun — so the judge revoked his probation and insisted he do more community service, like highway cleanup, beach cleanup, or graffiti cleanup.

So, if you’re out on the road and find Chris Brown in an orange vest bagging trash or scrubbing bridges, give the boy a Holla.

He’ll love it!

Katie Couric has pissed off Kash Kow Kardashian and the Kow’s response is kinda priceless.

Here’s what went down: Couric gave an interview to In Touch Weekly in which she was asked about the Kardastrophes and she said, “I don’t understand—why are they so famous? I think it’s mostly teenage girls that are interested.”

That’s not so bad, really, I mean I said worse things about those Media Whores just today, but I don’t have a TV show that I’m trying to save by booking big-assed named guests like Katie.

So, Couric ate some crow and sent Kim and Kanye West a baby gift for baby Eastern Pacific — a pair of baby pajamas with a note that read “Dear Kim and Kanye, Congratulations on the birth of your baby girl! And may I humbly suggest you continue the K tradition. Fondly, Katie Couric.”

Get it? Kim.Kanye.Katie. Kut!

But Kash Kow, who is alerted every time someone prints her name, saw the interview and then Instagrammed a picture of the gift with this hashtag:

“#IHateFakeMediaFriends #MayIHumblySuggestYouNotSendGiftsThenTalkS—”

Snap.

In more Kardastrophe news, it’s official: Kanye is a Kardashian.

Mister I Hate The Media, Mister The Paparazzi Made Me Walk Into A Pole, Mister I Vant To Be Alone, just made an appearance on his Baby Mama’s Mama’s talk show.

It seems Kris Jenner, Mama Pimp to her whole clan, has a talk show that is ending its trial run and she was desperate to have one big name guest on to make herself seem important so she whored out Kanye.

Now, I didn’t see the show, though I saw clips and was struck by Kanye’s Gay Voice — perhaps a gift from his ALLEGED boyfriend Ricardo Tisci? I haven’t heard that many sibilant esses since my bike tire sprung a leak.

West taped his special interview and was said to have really brought it, hoping to keep Kris on TV and out of his life. He even let the show put up a photo of Baby Southwest Airlines. And he talked about being a daddy and being so in love with Kimmy that he thought about “playing sports”—two of Kash Kow’s exes are professional athletes, though I think when Kanye says “playing sports” he means playing with sports, in locker-rooms and showers.

Oh, Kanye, I never liked you before, but now you’re sinking fast into the Kardashian Kool-Aid.

Have you heard of Nick Gruber?

He’s a former gay porn star, and the former lover of one way gay Calvin Klein. And he’s quite the trainwreck, having spent more than one stay in rehab for drug abuse. But now, apparently, Nick has gotten himself a new agent, and he’s ready to move on from gay porn and gay boyfriends and, well, gay. Nick says he’s straight now.

I know!

And how does he prove he’s hetero-sekshul? He attends a Fire Island party given by gay porn star and filmmaker Michael Lucas at which he made a scene because someone grabbed his ass.

Lucas gave his account on, where else, Facebook:

"This weekend was "Ascension" - the biggest party of the summer on Fire Island. Every year I buy a large VIP tent that's up above the dance floor, where I invite my friends.

I saw this arrogant guy who was being rude to people, shoving two guys away after they bumped into him. I heard him say, "keep your hands away from me! I’m straight!" So I went over to him, and asked him why he was being so rude.

He said, 'I am straight, and I don't want any gay people to touch me.' At which point, I told him 'you're leaving.' He said, 'do you know who I am?' I said, 'I don't know, and I don't even want to know who you think you are.'

Then he said, 'try me.' I said 'watch me'. I called over to security and had him hauled away without his feet even touching the floor. Then someone explained to me that this is the ex boyfriend of Calvin Klein, Nick Gruber, who just 'came out' as 'straight.'"

Not surprisingly, Nick’s agent released a different version: “Nick was the guest of Hal Rubenstein and David Nichols and wasn't familiar with how these mass events work in terms of ‘areas’ and VIP areas. Nick overreacted when he was told to leave one area. He is sending a private apology to Mr. Lucas. It was Nick’s first time at Fire Island, and he was glad to be there with several friends and support the cause.”

He.Wasn’t.Familiar.With.Parties.Hosted.By.Gay.Porn.Directors?

On Fire-Freaking-Island?

Oh Nicky, you’re queer, dear. Get used to it.

And you’re also an idiot.

Kate Gosselin has officially jumped the shark; not literally, though, sad to say.

While she might be one of the most hated “reality” stars ever—only superseded by her Ed Hardy wearing, sleeping with teenage girls, ex-husband Jon—she has seemingly lost what little she has left of her mind.

Now she’s accusing her ex of being some kind of superspy who broke into her home and tapped her phones and stole her computer hard drive and accessed all of her accounts and then gave all the info to a nasty man, Robert Hoffman, who wrote a book called Kate Gosselin: How She Fooled The World. And she’s suing Jon because, well, she doesn’t have a job and no one wants to see her raggedy ass on TV.

Her suit ALLEGES: “After the couple was separated, Jon illegally hacked into Kate’s email account and her phone and bank accounts … Jon also stole a hard drive from Kate’s house, which contained private and confidential material. Jon then gave them the contents of Kate’s email account and the hard drive, all of which were acquired illegality, to his friend and business partner, tabloid reporter Robert Hoffman [who] used the illegally acquired data to publish a defamatory book about Kate.”

Seriously Kate?

Gosselin. Jon Gosselin. Doesn’t have the ring of Bond to it.

So, Beyoncé’s a big old diva. I mean, we know about her penchant for $500 straws and red toilet paper, but now she’s taken her diva-tude further asking that certain areas in venues where she performs be off limits to anyone but her.

That’s ALLEGEDLY what she did at V Festival last weekend, according to Travis frontman Fran Healy. The Glasgow band was on the same bill as Queen B as in Bitch and Fran says she turned parts of the backstage area into a no-go zone: “Beyoncé locked down the entire backstage area for an hour. Everyone was affected. You’d ask ‘Can I just go there?’ and they’d say ‘No. You can’t cross this little street’. Everyone was just following orders from the gang. I guess that’s how Americans do it but it’s not how we do it in the UK.”

And, he adds, “She was headlining the main stage and was half an hour late.

In addition, Beyoncé refused to let V Festival live stream her performance because she’s afraid of more Ugly Man Face pictures of herself being on the internet; you know, the ones where she makes those hideous faces while she grunts and, ALLEGELDY, sings?

Alec Baldwin and his wife, the fabulously named Hilaria, recently welcomed their baby into the Baldwin family, but being a new daddy hasn’t mellowed the pissy little TV star.

Walking on a street in NYC this week, Baldwin began shrieking at a photographer and accusing him of stalking Hilaria. Alec attacked the guy and bent him over a car and started hollering at him and now the NYPD is involved.

The photographer, after being assaulted by Baldwin, called the police to lodge a complaint and police have spoken to both sides, who now want to whole thing to go away.

I can understand Baldwin wanting it to go away, because it’s just another in a long string of violent behavior and verbal abuse he hurls at anyone he doesn’t like, but I wish just once a photographer would follow through.

I mean, if Baldwin hates having photographers trail him, imagine how many would be waiting outside the police station after he’s arrested.

Friday, August 30, 2013

Since I missed last week due to vacation, I’ll offer this
brief recap:

THE REST: Alexander’s was well-made but dull, and I hated the tacked on leather piece. Bradon’s looked like a last-minute staple job, while Dom’s was slinky sexy. Helen picks the worst fabrics ever and then makes something ugly of them, but Jeremy’s poetry dress was beautiful. Karen’s dress … more in a minute, but Kate’s looked like a Dominatrix Hard Boiled Egg Mess. Ken’s dress was inspired by water but why then was it green and red and black? Miranda’s dress was Carmen Miranda.

THE BEST: Alexandria deserved the win, not just because her look was cool and edgy and Glamping-inspires, but because of the look on Ken’s face when she won.

The designtestants head off to the Hearst Building to find Tim Gunn and Marie Claire's new Editor-in-Chief Anne Fulenwider — who replaced my beloved Brit Joanna Coles — and they announced that this week's challenge was to choose a pair of shoes from the Marie Claire closet and create a look inspired by those shoes.

Ken, that horrid little man bitch, whined that since he was self-taught he was at a disadvantage to answer the questions but then he got the first one right. Didn’t hurt that the question was Who does America dislike most this season on the PR? and he said ME!! Then he picks the ankle length version of the shoe Alexandria picked.

Jeremy gets a question about Christian Dior right and gets Julia Roberts Pretty Woman hooker boots, while Karen gets a Parsons question correct and goes for a shoe that is the same color as her blouse. Helen, tattooed Helen, answers a question about Jessica Simpson and picks studded ankle boots, while Kate picks some Dr Seuss looking shoes in orange and yellow.

Bradon guesses right and picks a sleek gold ballet slipper, while Dom picks some neon colored Creepers, emphasis on creep. Justin picks some wildly patterned CFM heels while Alexander gets a simple beige wedge with a red stripe up the back. We listen to Miranda complain about the questions, because no one asks about wallpaper and artillery, her two fave topics but she gets a pair of red patent leather loafers.

And we’re off; to Mood, with a suggested $250 budget and a Plaid War. Both Miranda and Alexander choose red plaid, though his is more subdued — as subdued as a plaid can be — while Miranda’s screams Holiday Card.

So, let’s rip ….

THE SAFES

ALEXANDERdecided to make a red Tartan plaid pant and I was worried it would come off clownish, but his top was cool and edgy, and the darkness of the plaid toned the whole thing down.

DOM and her Creepers. She went all urban-street—something she says she doesn’t do but has done more than once this season—and created a color-blocked quilted dress that might have been cute and urban had it not been so matronly in the length.

JUSTIN redeemed himself from last week’s glue-gunned lace misfire, with an all-black hot bitch number that played up the wild hooker heels.

KAREN went all matchy-matchy, pairing the lime green and beige shoe with a beige jacket—that was so ill-fitting it made her size zero model look fat—and a lime green side-boobed halter top. It was a Meh all the way around.

KATE took Seussical shoes and paired them with pants with each leg slit to the thigh and a too-tight white top. It was neither here nor there for me. It’s just Kate; the only thing good about it — in a wacky way — were the shoes.

THE BOTTOM THREE

JEREMY

He's like a dog with a bone. He gets an idea in his head and just won’t let go. He wanted to take his thigh-high rocker boots and make a mock Cable-knit sweater using chiffon to create the pattern. And then he paired it with a black tube miniskirt and a gold lame camisole.

I know! Even his accent couldn’t save this look.

Heidi dubbed it Pretty Woman but not pretty at all; it wasn’t modern or current. The Adorable Zac Posen™ said it verged on trampy and questioned Jeremy’s technical skills—though last week he raved about them … go figure.

Guest Judge Kaley Cuoco — a sitcom actress, so she knows fashion, amirite?—said the outfit didn’t match the boots and that there was a lot going on, i.e. chiffon, velvet, gold lame. Nina wondered why he paired rocker boots with a faux sweater because the look is neither rocker or edgy.

UP CLOSE

Nina said he wasn’t able to design around the shoe and said he was floundering; Heidi mentioned that he’s won, been on the top and been on the bottom and been safe, so he’s all over the place. Guest Judge — and so not Joanna Coles — Anne Fulenwider wondered why he wasted so much time on that sweater.

But he’s safe.

BRADON

This week he got the phone call home, and the 'I miss you cry', which usually means Sayonara sucker, so we know right away he’ll go Bottom Three.

He decides to use another one of his techniques — remember the faggoting? —bouillonné, which means boiling water, or so he says. What it means is that he puckered up the fabric into a knee-length dress to show off his glittery ballet flats. I thought the flats needed a pant because they didn’t seem dressy enough for a boiled dress.

Luckily Tim reined in the dress idea, and Bradon turned it into a top and, I hoped, a pair of wide legged trousers. But no, for some reason Bradon was hooked on the dress and made a simple circle skirt. The look was 1950s meets France meets the dumpster.

Heidi said it was swing dance and Happy Days and old school; she said a suit would have been better and I shouted Yes! Yes! YESSSSSSSSSS! Then I calmed down. Nina Garcia, who never met a flat she didn’t want to flatten, suggested he should have made a simple brocade T-shirt dress, or an A-line dress and let the embellished shoe be the star. She called his top tortured and overworked. The Adorable Zac Posen™ called it “frumpy dumpy” in both silhouette and fabric; he admitted that the top was well-executed but not flattering, and the whole look needed to be modernized.

Anne simply said it was her least favorite look on the runway, and dubbed the top “grandma’s pillows” — and I agreed because my Grandma had pillows like that!—while Kaley said it was a bad bridesmaid’s dress.

UP CLOSEHeidi, The Adorable Zac Posen™, and Anne Fulenwider each called it “terrible” while Kaley said it was too much and Nina again demanded a T-shirt dress.

Bradon, who I love but can admit made the most awful outfit, is safe — possibly because of what he’s done in previous weeks.

MIRANDA

She also chose a red Tartan as well because she thought they would pair well with red shoes. I kept thinking, If the shoes are the star, why do something in red? Why not a little bit of red and some other color to make the shoes stand out? But, alas, Miranda couldn’t hear me through the TV.

And had she been able to hear me, she might have heard me shout about the top and jacket she was making that she’s already made once before; the same top and jacket that landed her in the bottom one other time. I will give her credit, though, because the pants were well-made — the plaid lined up at the seams — but that polka dot top and white leather mini coat were tragic.

Heidi doesn’t like it, and doesn’t like that Miranda called it Rocker Girl. [Note to designers: just because you slap an Amy Winehouse Beehive on a model doesn’t magically make your look Rocker Girl, m’kay?] Heidi also said it was a mishmash of eras and The Adorable Zac Posen™ said it was 50s and 60s and not good. He called it nerdy, which can be good, but said it wasn’t kooky enough.

Nina was all, Where’s the eggnog? She called it Christmas with the red and green and gold plaid and the shiny red shoes and the six tiny reindeer; or something. She said it was retro and not in a good way. Kaley loved the shoes, but not the look, while Anne said it was definitely not rock’n’roll. She loved the way the pants fit, but hated the top and the jacket.

UP CLOSE

Nina again said it was obviously a holiday outfit and called Miranda a one-note, and Kaley said she hated it. The Adorable Zac Posen™ said he hadn’t seen anything good from Miranda.

So, even though the Aufing is supposed to be based on this one runway — meaning Bradon or Jeremy could have, and maybe should have, gone home — the fact that Miranda is a One Trick Monkey — thanks Dmitry — she’s Auf’d.

THE TOP THREE

KEN

Bitch. Nasty. He’s all about playing “the game” and not realizing if he’d just create something wonderful he might win. Bitch.

His shoe, the child version of Alexandria’s, and a cousin to the shoes Heidi wore at the start of the show — which might have been part of his “game” plan — were unflattering to me. His model, even being a thin girl, seems to have cankles and those shoes did not help.

He was planning a coat dress with big poufy sleeves and a big poufy hem, but Tim talked him out of it; he needs to thank Tim. He turned it around and stripped the sleeves to simple and changed the poof into a peplum. SIDENOTE: I am so happy to be a man just knowing that no designer would ever suggest a peplum for me to wear. I think peplums are just the dumbest thing ever.

And Ken’s was dumb, and big and kinda sloppy. The top part of his dress was sexy athlete, the middle part was hotel maid, and the bottom was party girl drunk under a bar. I didn’t see that at all as a Top Three.

Heidi liked it because it was soft and hard, and because of the peplum—oh for the love of Lacroix, Heidi, really? She also liked the reptilian fabric, which is what I think boosted Ken from safe to top. The Adorable Zac Posen™ said he did a good job with a rich fabric but hated the disco ball purse accessory. Nina loved that it was covered up at the top and oh-so-short at the bottom, while Kaye called it cool and cute; cute? Sitcom actress. Anne called it fabulous and killer but wished the dress had been longer and less vah-jay-jay adjacent.

UP CLOSE

Anne and Kaley both felt up the model, er, the fabric, and loved it. The Adorable Zac Posen™ said it was sexy secretary in a good textile. Heidi said Good for him and with that Ken was Safe, though he whined that he didn’t win.

ALEXANDRIA

Her kinda slutty, kinda tough thigh-high gladiator sandals might have seemed like an odd choice, and hard to design around, but at least they got noticed.

I liked her look — though, again, I hated the sandals and wondered what woman would wear them, anywhere, ever — because while the shoes read gladiator, her look read toga and those two things do go together. It was simple, with some added lace trim and cutouts, so it wasn’t boring.

Heidi thought it the perfect dress fort the shoe, and called it whimsical — in a kinda of Roman warrior kind of whimsy, I guess — and feminine; she liked the soft and hard and sexiness of it. Nina agreed that it was perfect for the shoe, soft and cool and relaxed, and said it was the most editorial look of all. Anne said she loved loved it, and loved the shoes, while Kaley called it bold and confident. Only The Adorable Zac Posen™ wasn’t on-board; he hates gladiator sandals, especially crotch high gladiator sandals, and called her a nightgown girl walking home through Soho; pedestrian, he said, which fits a girl walking the streets, but not a streetwalker.

UP CLOSE

Heidi loved the lace while The Adorable Zac Posen™ said there wasn’t a lot of construction involved — unlike the girders holding up Ken’s peplum, I’m guessing — while Nina admitted the whole look could have gone wrong, but didn’t.

Alexandria is safe.

HELEN

I always worry about Helen because I have no idea who she is; she’s got the attitude and the tattoos but her looks, for the most part, are boring and simple and dull; and often poorly made.

Her ankle boots with the studded toes were cool, but her dress, and the capelet, seemed a little nunnish to me; a little bit American Horror story: Asylum, if you will. It was all too simple and too black and too, well, nothing. But, it was well-made, and that counts for the judges who raved about it.

Nina started off by saying she wanted the dress for herself; it was minimal and classy, refined, sophisticated, fashionable. I wondered if Nina was over tired last night. Heidi called it sleek and chic and said she wanted it, too, while Kaley said she’d wear it on any carpet — and I hope she meant Red Carpet and not some carpet in a casting director’s office, if you get my meaning.

Anne called it stunningly simple, and The Adorable Zac Posen™ said it was fantastic and chic and sophisticated and fits so well; “simplicity is next to godliness.”

UP CLOSE

The Adorable Zac Posen™ called the construction perfect, and loved the fabric. Anne agreed that it was good, but very basic, while Heidi liked that it was simple and well made. Nina said it was all about the cape.

I guess it all means that a good cape, over a simple basic, well-made black dress that looked like something from the Sister Act costume department, is a winner.

Helen scores her first solo win.

Bradon better step it up, or he’s not going to The Tents and will instead be meeting his boyfriend at that cabin in Big Bear. And Jeremy needs to listen and learn, and stop being so egotistical in his designs or he’ll, too, be tent-less.

Ken needs to go. The whining, the crying, the bitchiness; it’s like a holiday dinner every day with him. And Helen? I still don’t get how the tattoos jibe with the monastic fashions she creates; it’s all so weird.

Alexandria is really stepping up and I think she might head to Lincoln Center at the end of the season, while Alexander will head to Lincoln Center, too, to see a show. Justin might go to the Tents if he pushes himself, but not as far as he pushed last week, and Dom needs to stop with the urban streetwear because it’s looking like that’s all she knows.

Miranda? Take heart in knowing that you outlasted Timothy. Head back to Wisconsin and rub his unicorn’s nose in it.

Ana Maria Ortiz, a member of
Mexico's right wing National Action Party, on marriage equality:

"Marriage should
only be considered as those relationships in which the
members have sex facing each other, which does not
occur between homosexual couples."

Um, think again, Ana. I mean,
you seem so obsessed with the ins-n-out-s of homo-sex and yet you have no real
idea how it can be done.

It’s funny when homophobes
are all consumed with The Gays and how we ‘do’ it, because most gays could care
less how The Straights do it.

Thomas Roberts, MSNBC host, on the GOP and
their anti-marriage equality stance:

"Reince
Priebus, when I got engaged, congratulated me at the White House
Correspondents' weekend. Last year, Sean Spicer congratulated me on getting
married to my husband. Yet they incorporate into the platform of the RNC their
stance against marriage equality. It's odd, because why congratulate me? I
didn't bring it up, I didn't say give me a congratulations, but they offered
it. So it's odd, because then they'll go out and drumbeat that they're against
marriage equality. It's weird."

It’s
the hypocrisy of the GOP. To your face they’re all, Congratulations, and yet behind
your back is when they show their true colors.

BTW: Sean Spicer, who is the
RNC's communications director, responded thusly: "Believing marriage is
between one man and one woman and being polite, courteous and respectful are
not mutually exclusive."

But then why congratulate a
man on doing something you work so virulently to oppose. You didn’t have to say
Congratulations you could have just said Hello.

Like I said, hypocrisy.

Frank Bruni, on the rise in gay bashing:

"After all the education
that we Americans have had and all the relished progress we’ve made, being gay
does mean feeling constrained in situations where most people aren’t, scared in
circumstances that wouldn’t frighten others in the least, self-conscious when
you shouldn’t have to be. Like when you’re holding someone’s hand. It’s the
sweetest, most innocent and most natural of gestures: to interlock your fingers
with those of a person for whom you’re feeling a sudden rush of affection. A
person you maybe love. And yet when my partner takes my hand in public in New
York City, I look at the sidewalk ahead. I note how many pedestrians are coming
our way, and how quickly, and whether they’re male or female, young or old,
observant or distracted. And I sometimes take my hand back, wishing I were
braver, wishing our world didn’t ask me to be."

So sad to live in a world
where holding the hand of the person you love could get you killed.

But that’s a fact, folks.

Masen Davis, the transgendered Executive Director of the Transgender Law
Center, on Save California president, and bigot, Randy Thomasson referring to
him as a 'lady':

"Thomasson’s attempt to
disrespect my own gender identity by referring to me as a ‘lady’ said more
about him than me (I’m no lady, and clearly he is no gentleman). I am
comfortable in my own skin, and proud of my journey as a transgender man. I
have heard, though, from many transgender people and allies who are very upset
by his shallow attempt to mis-gender me. Failing to honor the gender identity
of a transgender person is a common way for anti-equality zealots to try to
undermine our credibility and humanity...I am surprised and disappointed that
CNN relied on Randy Thomasson, described by Media Matters as the leader of an
‘anti-LGBT hate group,’ to discuss the passage of California’s AB1266 (the
School Success and Opportunity Act). Thomasson’s extremist sentiments exemplify
why transgender youth and adults alike need legal protection from
discrimination and bias. I urge CNN to engage more reasoned and legitimate
‘experts’ in future segments about transgender issues."

Seriously, CNN, why ask someone who clearly hates LGBT
people on to a show and discuss LGBT issues?

It’s just media pandering and trying to put on a ‘show’
rather than tell a story.

"Obama will claim we
need a national police force in order to fight terrorism and crime. The Boston
bombing is a useful start, especially when combined with random shootings by
crazy people. Where will he get his 'national police'? The NaPo will be recruited
from 'young out-of-work urban men' and it will be hailed as a cure for the
economic malaise of the inner cities. In other words, Obama will put a
thin veneer of training and military structure on urban gangs, and send them
out to channel their violence against Obama's enemies. Instead of doing
drive-by shootings in their own neighborhoods, these young thugs will do
beatings and murders of people 'trying to escape' -- people who all seem
to be leaders and members of groups that oppose Obama. Already the thugs
who serve the far left agenda of Obama's team do systematic character
assassination as a means of intimidating their opponents into silence. But
physical beatings and 'legal' disappearances will be even more
effective -- as Hitler and Putin and many other dictators have demonstrated
over and over."

Looks like someone is trying
to create a new work of fiction.

John Amaechi, openly gay retired NBA
player, on the proposed boycott of the Sochi Olympics:

"Asking
for a boycott is a very principled thing to do. I am with Stephen [Fry] in that
the sentiment is absolutely correct – I just don’t think it’s practical – and I
want to be clear…it’s a sad thing that it’s not practical because it means that
people with great power have somehow lost sight of their lofty principles. It
should be practical because if you look at the Olympic Charter and the seven
principles of Olympianism which speak of things like human dignity; which speak
of things like not allowing discrimination for any reason – if you look at
those principles the Olympics shouldn’t even be in Russia in the first
place."

Too true; and I’m still
hoping, perhaps in vain, that the Games can be moved to a place where The Gays
aren’t subjected to such hatred, on the field or off.

Stephen Colbert, on the controversy surrounding the Sochi Olympics and
Russia's anti-gay laws:

"Now this anti-gay
legislation has caused outrage and in response the International Olympic
Committee has bravely stood up to Putin and said, 'Whatever you want,
Vlad'...All the Olympic Committee is saying is that being gay is an act of
protest because what are gay men doing but boycotting women. The IOC is just
asking gay athletes to knock it off for a couple of weeks. Just like at the '36
Olympic Games Hitler asked Jesse Owens to ease off on the black. Don't be so
'out there!' But to be safe I think they should bring the Olympics back to
their Greek roots where nothing gay ever happened."

Word.

Funny, but true.

Sandy Rios, homophobic bigot and radio host, on God and The Gays ... and Obama
and the liberals, too:

"I would not want to be
in the shoes of any of the left right now. I would not want to be in Barack
Obama’s shoes. I would not want to be in the shoes of homosexual activists. I
say that with humility and with fear for them because God will even the score,
he will sort things out, he will be God and he will not be mocked. Whereas they
think they are getting away with breaking all kinds of moral laws and mocking
everyone in the process, they just don’t know God, they don’t know who they are
up against and we do. And that should bring out some mercy in us because I
wouldn’t want to be—what did that old evangelist say: ‘it’s a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of an angry God.’"

So, Rios thinks God will smite The Gays, oh, and the
Liberals, and Obama.

Funny thing, though, is that God is love, not hate.

Hate is reserved for people like Sandy Rios.

Lee Daniels, director ofPrecious andThe Butler,
on growing up gay and the stigma attached to homosexuality in the black
community:

"Black men can't come
out. Why? Because you simply can't do it. Your family says it. Your church says
it. Your teachers say it. Your parents say it. Your friends say it. Your work
says it. So you're living on this 'DL' thing and you're infecting black women.
And its killing us. The black culture and the Hispanic culture have a thing
about [homosexuality]"

The saddest thing of all is the harm caused to young Black
gay men and women who feel that they have to live in fear and shame and
self-loathing. Hopefully, people, young Black gay people, will look at lee
Daniels and realize that they, too, can come out, and they, too, can be
themselves.

Jeremy Abbott, U.S. figure skater, who plans on staying
silent about Russia's treatment of The Gays while competing there:

“Russia is hosting us. I'm not going to go into somebody's
house and be like, ‘Um, the way you decorate is hideous, and you need to
completely redo this or I'm never coming back.’ It's a little rude, so I don't
want to say bad things about a country that's hosting the world, essentially.
Maybe I don't agree with their policies, and maybe I don't agree with some
things, but that's for them to sort out. My speaking out just makes me look
like an ass.”

First off, Jeremy, you aren’t criticizing the way Russia
decorates. You’d be criticizing a country that jails people, beats people,
murders people, just for being gay. But, if you want to believe that isn’t
worth talking about, then I’d ask that you simply not talk.

Your speaking out now does
make you look like an ass; an ass who doesn’t care about LGBT Russians who have
been brutalized or murdered.

So stay silent, but if some day, someone comes for you because
of some intrinsic part of who you are, and when you plead for help, the world has
more caring people in it, and less people like Jeremy Abbott.